Plateau United were held 1-1 by Warri Wolves at the New Jos Stadium on Sunday 1 November 2026, Samuel Ayanrinde levelling on the hour after Emmanuel Aribogha had put the visitors ahead in the 24th minute. Gbenga Ogunbote called it “another disappointing home draw for us”. Our recalculated NPFL table has the Peace Boys sixth on 16 points.

Plateau United publish no wage figures, so the ₦2m line is the NPFL minimum.

Four wins, all of them in Jos

Figures after matchday 11, played on 1 November 2026. Where our match events do not name the Plateau United scorer, or name one the press contradicts, the table says so.

Sixteen points from 11 games is 1.45 a game, and the split behind it is lopsided: 13 of 18 points at home, three of 15 away, with every one of the four wins coming in Jos and three draws from the five away games.

Plateau United have scored 18 goals and conceded 14 in the 11 games. Thirteen came at home, against five conceded. Away the side has scored five and let in nine. According to the match events we compiled, Gideon Monday and J. Ibrahim lead the way with three goals each. Paul Samson Alo, Samuel Ayanrinde and Victor Dawa have two apiece. Four goals carry no confirmed scorer in our records.

The 4-0 win over Kano Pillars on 11 October, matchday 8, was the high point of the season so far, four different scorers and a clean sheet against a side that still sits fourth in our table, level on 18 points with the top three. A week later, as we reported, Sporting Lagos won 3-2 in Jos. Victor Dawa had twice answered Aliyu Baba's tenth-minute opener. Since the Kano Pillars game the return is two points from nine. The five-match form reads loss, win, loss, draw, draw.

Four clubs have 18 points in our table, Rivers United, Enugu Rangers, Bendel Insurance and Kano Pillars. Enugu Rangers have two games in hand. Plateau United head a block of four clubs on 16 only on goal difference.

Ogunbote and the squad

Ogunbote was unveiled as technical adviser in January 2026. He said then that “we're going to integrate a few quality players, but it won't be a wholesale change because a team needs synergy”, and the summer bore that out, the one confirmed departure being defender Tarabina Biweribo to Kano Pillars.

Plateau United players' salary

No individual salary at the club is public.

On 23 June 2026 the National Sports Commission approved a ₦2 million monthly minimum for NPFL players, alongside a push for stricter club licensing. Chairman Shehu Dikko said the rules would apply even “if strict enforcement means fewer clubs qualify initially”. At the official rate of ₦1,346 per dollar on 30 October 2026, that is about $1,486. The approval gave no word on gross or net. Older figures are thin and second-hand. In June 2022 Saleh Mandung Zazzaga, a Plateau State chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, told Daily Trust that some players earn more than ₦700,000 a month, about $520 at the same rate, and that coaches take ₦1 million or more, which is a politician's complaint rather than a club payslip. In April 2023 players were given ₦100,000 each, about $74, after beating Nasarawa United, Pulse Sports reported.

We found no 2026 report of unpaid wages. General manager Habila Hosea Mutla denied in December 2024 that players had been put on half salaries.

New Jos Stadium and the 1975 roots

Home this season is the New Jos Stadium, where the Kwara United, Sporting Lagos and Warri Wolves games were played. The older Rwang Pam Stadium seats 15,000 and is still listed as a club ground. No 2026 match we know of has been played there. Our guide to NPFL clubs and stadiums covers the other grounds.

The club began in 1975 as JIB Strikers and is owned by the Plateau State Government. It won the Nigeria Cup in 1999, beating Iwuanyanwu Nationale 1-0 in the final. The NPFL title came in 2017 under Kennedy Boboye.

Our view

The numbers point at the away record. Thirteen of 18 points at home is a title-level return, and the three draws and two defeats away, together with the slide from the Kano Pillars rout to two points from the next nine, are where Ogunbote's season has been lost so far. What the ₦2 million floor costs a state-owned club only the club can say. Ogunbote's more pressing task is a first away win.

This article was most recently revised and updated 18 seconds ago